Alcoholics Anonymous has a twelve step program that has helped people all over the world. People also use the methodology in other programs facing other addictions. In my own life, I see that if I can get past denial, I have the problem half solved.

Alcoholics Anonymous is known for having addicts say, “I am John Doe, and I am an Alcoholic.”

Why do they do that? They have found that denial is one of the biggest problems. Recruiting is no different actually. China recruiting denial is a problem we have to overcome. Can we say, “I denied my need for rigorous recruiting for 10 years and now commit to not live in denial.”

China Recruiting Denial Can Be Overcome

Companies often bat 50% on good hires. In baseball, batting 500 is fabulous. In companies, lots of hires are good only in that they did not get fired, but they do not bring many smiles either. So companies have terrible, bad and mediocre hires with a few gems as well. Somehow companies can live this way.

A worker can get hurt due to a Safety gap. Your China business can lose a big account. An angry customer can call with a serious quality problem due to your product. Sometimes this will wake a company up from its denial that its recruiting is hurting them. Of course, most companies are still in denial. Alcoholics can lose their job and even get a divorce and still be in denial.

So companies who have business in China have lots of issues. One is denial of why they do not thrive here. Great hires are so valuable. Hires you do not know well enough secretly dragging you down year after year is another. See also, A Hires or A Manipulators?. Actually filling hard to fill positions is hard. So companies do not fill the position well, and it drags them down. The denial here is a belief that no one can get this done. A committed rigorous recruiting team can show the limits of what can be done. We often help companies here and make sure the people are great hires at the same time, A contingency recruiter will not get you there.

What Can You Do?

Do not live in denial. You need to go a company that is committed to rigorous recruiting to get you what you need. I urge you not to throw your hands in the air.

Many companies come to us because they are finally desperate. At least one came too late to even save themselves. Another came too late to save his job.

So denial, or do things right the first time and enjoy the results for years to come.